The Origin of the Ghost Writer
by MoonlightUmbreon
Summary: I remember, it was the day of my sister's twenty-first birthday... when disaster struck us all. -Really long Ghost Writer oneshot- multiple character deaths


**Disclaimer**

I don't own Danny Phantom and any person with some proper sense will know this already.

**Author's Note**

Moonlight: I love writing about the Ghost Writer. In fact, he's my favorite ghost out of all of them. This will not be any longer than a oneshot because if I start juggling something else I'll either end up dying from being overworked or a mob of angry readers wanting to see what happens next. Ehehe...

Kris: Just one thing, this isn't all fluffy like her other Ghost Writer piece. This isn't anything like that at all.

**--**

**The Origin of the Ghost Writer**

**By MoonlightUmbreon**

Our story begins with my old sister, Marietta. She was just turning twenty-one, (which was five years younger than I was) had beautiful flowing black hair along with eyes of a brilliant dark green. Marietta, or we called her Mary for short, was also quite tall, but still that was the same height that I was. We often fought, as sibling do, but we were also deeply affectionate to each other when we wanted to be. She had a soft-spot for painting and drawing, but also loved to go to the beach and fish, (which we only got to do once in our lives concidering Amity Park is so far away from the coastline) and she absolutely adored parties.

So, when it came to her twenty-first birthday, she was thrilled. She envited eleven people; our mother and father, (who happily catered for the whole thing) me, her group of best friends which consisted of six people, and our twin cousins who were born on a different year. Sounds odd to have twin brothers that have that, but what had happened was that one was born at a couple of minutes before midnight on December thirty-first, and the other born an hour later. However, my half-brother Randy wasn't invited, I've never known why my parents rejected him like that and allowed my step father to just take him. I still miss him to this day... But the party, it was a great time. My mother and father turned the living room into a mini-disco with all the greatest songs from the nineteen-seventies. There was also a little wine and champagne, although it was discouraged that anyone drank more than one glass. Of course, that didn't stop Sally, one of Mary's friends. She really liked the odd alcoholic drink, and ended up nicking three glasses of champagne before our parents realized and stopped her, then made her lie down for a bit of the alcohol to wear off. Sally was sent home with a headache an hour later that night.

When it came to the legendary 'cutting of the cake', Mary dived at the chance, and having had a little to drink like everyone else, (including myself and the underage twins) immediately cut down to the very bottom. There was a gasp from Anne, one of her other friends. "Mary! You can't hit the bottom! You _know _what that means! Kiss time!"

I looked over to my sister and realized I was closest to her. Both of our faces drained of colour, and resulted in the simultaneous remarks of "I have to kiss my sister/brother??!!"

I backed away, and so did she. Sure, we were close. But we kiss our _parents, _maybe boyfriends or girlfriends, but certainly _not _each other. That just wasn't going to happen. Full stop. "I'm not going to kiss her!" I say exaperatedly. "There is no way I'm going to do that! For goodness sake, I've _read _enough of this happening to last a lifetime; the last thing I want to do is act it out!"

"I agree! There's no way I'm kissing Writer!" she said desperately. Writer was my nickname. Everyone called me that because of my love for literature, both reading and writing. Sometimes even my parents.

However, the guests were dissatisfied and began chanting "_Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss,_" loudly. With a revoulted look on her face, she quickly came up to me and gave me a quick brush on the cheek.

"There! Is that enough for you sick people?!" she yelled slightly angrily.

Many looked disappointed that it wasn't the full on lips, but it was a kiss none-the-less.

"Good, 'cos it's not going to happen again! And shame on you if you think it is!"

The party raved on for more hours into the night. Before we even knew it, it was midnight. But we had no intentions of stopping. Oh no, we wanted to go for longer. No one had gone home yet except Sally, so there was, to us, no reason to stop the cheer. Our parents got rid of the liquor before anyone got drunk around this time, and there were a few disgruntled yells of objection. Although after a few minutes no one cared anymore after my parents miraculously managed to find a pizza parlor that was open at that time of night _and _delivered. I had my usual Hawaiian while Mary was dared to eat the extra-spicy Americano. A few minutes later she was red in the face and looked as though she could have quite literally breathed fire. Immediately she skulled the nearest drink of cola that she could find, burping loudly and wiping her mouth at the end. Everyone laughed, even me despite finding it slightly disgusting. Even after that, she was still panting slightly trying to cool her tongue down. I made a mental note to myself never to try that pizza, or ever to get tricked into doing so. I wasn't one for spice anyway.

Yes, we couldn't have had a more fun night. Finally, at around four in the morning, people started heading home. It however took until half-past that insane hour before just Mary, I, and one of her friends, Julie, who was planning on staying the night were left. We all decided to clean up the unholy mess that was left behind in the morning; it could wait.

And so I went to the topmost floor where my room was. My bedroom was the only one up there, all the others were downstairs. I hadn't even bothered to get changed before I sat on my bed in my long purple jacket and scarf. Maybe it was just me, or maybe it was the hype from the party upstairs, but I wasn't tired. So I pulled out my notebook. I was in the process of writing a book, and I wanted to make money by publishing it. My parents, of course, said I was a madman. No one made any money by publishing books unless you wrote the next 'To Kill a Mockingbird', or such. But I didn't care, the fun of writing had taken me and just the knowledge that even one person whom I didn't know liked my book enough to buy a copy thrilled me. My passion could make other people happy... that was wonderful to me. It's like two scoops of ice-cream for the price of one. And to make it better... I only had one chapter left to write.

I had put three more pages down when I saw a glint of sunlight appearing over the rooftops. Just a glint. Hurriedly, I looked at my clock and realized that it was now five in the morning - not good. But I still wasn't tired. I was about to change into a pair of pajamas when I saw some smoke seeping into my room through the closed door. Seeing it, I began to panic and immediately dropped the pajamas that I had taken from my wardrobe. I grabbed my notepad and ran to the door, opening it.

I was greeted by a room full of smoke and fire. I panicked, there was sweat running my face as I pulled my jacket over it so I didn't breathe in so much smoke. Scurrying to the staircase, I saw that the only way down to the ground had caved in, and the roof above me was creaking and straining. As every second went by, I got a little more panicked, a little more flustered, a little more worried that I'd never see any of my family or friends again. Coughing, I made my way back to my now smoke-filled room. I opened the window to see my family and Julie all standing outside, calling my name. I leaned my head out and pulled my jacket down to yell out back, getting a horrible mouthful of fumes in the process.

"The stairs have caved in!" I yelled desperately. "I can't get down! HELP!!"

"The ladder's in the shed, and that's on fire, we can't! Writer, jump!"

"Are you insane?!" I scream. "I'm three stories up! If I jump I'll break my neck and die anyway! Don't lose this!!" I threw the book down and just as it got down, there was a deafening explosion from the garage beside it. (most probably made by the numerous gas bottles inside) The notebook was incinirated as the structure began to crumble, toppling over slowly. There was so much smoke in my room; I began to feel dizzy and had strange hallucinations where objects in my room started to come to life and dance around...

The last thing I can remember thinking before passing out was _Move out of the way!! Just don't get crushed, PLEASE don't! get! crushed!_

--

It was a few minutes later when I reawoke. And I certainly did get the shock of my life when I did. No one expects to wake up floating in middair, and trust me, it's heart-attack worthy. It was the most confusing, shocking, horrifying time in all of my existence, and I've been through quite a few shocks. I looked downwards and saw the wreck that used to my house beneath myself. It was still slightly on fire, sending smoke and flames high into the air. But I didn't care about my status right now; I just wanted to see that my family, my mother, father and Mary were okay... and of course Julie as well. They had to be okay... And as if it was only natural for me to do so, I dived downwards and landed on the ground, and started to call out desperately for them. I noticed that my voice had become slightly echoed, it was strange, it kept on giving me the impression that it was coming from somewhere other than my throat even though I knew it wasn't. Despite that, I didn't stop calling out their names, even Julie's. I was never answered... and I _hoped_, oh how I ever _hoped _that they had fled, that they had gone somewhere else safe.

Even though deep down, I knew they wouldn't have left without me.

The sound of sirens filled my ears. I turned to see a fire engine rushing towards the scene, the foghorn sounding in this misty dawn. It sped and pulled up, and I watched from a corner in my yard where they didn't notice me. They immediately started to hose down the building. Most of the fire was gone after a few minutes. Then they began to start moving the wreckage, piece-by-piece. It was still even smoking. Then I saw them pull out from underneath the weatherboards, the limp form of Mary. I screamed in horror and couldn't help myself but run up to them all. And whatever I currently looked like wasn't too appealing either. The two fireman who first saw me screamed, but I didn't care about that. I looked at Mary, she was as limp as anything. The first thing I did was check for a pulse, but I found none. And I'd tried both wrists and both sides of her neck. Her heart wasn't beating, and she wasn't breathing either. She was... dead...

"Mary..." I said softly. Her face and clothes were blackened with ash and unmoving. It was unbearable to look at. Then I realized that I was still here, and that maybe, just maybe, Mary would be around somewhere as well. "Mary!" I yelled, looking around. But nothing came. There was no one around anywhere, nothing at all out-of-the ordinary at all. As if things couldn't get any worse for me, the fireman chose that exact moment to pull both my mother and father's limp forms out. I screamed, there was nothing else I could do. What else can you do when your entire family is dead? I ran up to both of them and unsuccesfully checked for a pulse, a heartbeat, a breath, _anything._

But there was nothing.

The fireman were staring at me uncertainly. I looked down at my hands and realized that they were an extremely unhealthy shade of white along with a bluish tint. And they were also glowing slightly with a soft white aura. I can remember thinking that I really must be a ghost, or spirit of some kind. There was no other way I could have been flying like that, or looked like this. Had I not been distrought from seeing my loved one's bodies pulled from a large pile of smoking wreckage, I would have been worried about the next time that I looked in the mirror at my face. Then they pulled someone else out. The girl was caughing and spluttering, along with quite a bit of ash and grit over her, but otherwise fine. It was Julie, and the fireman were buzzing around the only live victim.

"Treat her for smoke inhalation!" I heard one of them yell to the others. I ran over to see her, making them all flinch. I growled slightly at this.

"Fools! You think I'd hurt you?!" I said angrily, while getting up close. "Julie! Are you okay?!"

Her eyes were still closed, and they didn't seem like they were going to open anytime soon. "Writer..." she wheezed, coughing out some ash. She must have recognized his voice. "The others... are they alright...?"

"They're... not..." I whispered. "Just... hang in there. I'll explain everything later..."

"But... what's to explain, Writer...? What's wrong with your voice...? No one's dead are they...?" She didn't get to ask anything else. She was immediately taken to the ambulance that I hadn't noticed was there until just that moment. It drove off with sirens blazing; she must have inhaled a lot of smoke. I vowed to tell her everything. _Everything._

"There's one more!!" another yell came. I cringed. I knew what was coming and I wasn't ready to accept it. They pulled _me _out. Well, the old me, anyway. I was limp, just like the rest of my family. All the fireman must have noticed the simularities between my two forms, because they were pointing at me as I had returned to my family. They yelled out and I heard one curse quite loudly. I looked up with an expression of sadness on my face. Had I been able to, I probably would have been crying. My life was destroyed, and my family weren't here to help me through any of it. Gingerly, I made a movement towards my limp self. It was lying there on the ground, unmoving, and covered with soot and ash. Unable to bear to look any longer, I looked up at the sky and backed away. I didn't know what to do now, why had my family gone and I had stayed?

Because I had unfinished business, and they didn't. I had that book that I was writing; it was incinirated in the fire. But surely that wasn't enough to tie me down? But there was nothing else... And so I decided, that I had to re-write that book and get it done. Maybe then, I could be with them again.

People began to crowd around the smoking house, making the early-dawn haze darker with all the soot in the air. I moved out of the way, so they wouldn't see. The last thing that I wanted was people obsessing over me. I eventually decided to go to Rick's (my best friend) house. He'd always help me with anything, and he'd do the same for me. But I didn't want to be seen by anyone else, that was that. Suddenly, I was overcome by a very strange feeling. I couldn't describe it, but all of a sudden I couldn't see myself! This was amazing - I was invisible. Well, it would have been amazing, had I not just lost my human self and entire family in a housefire...

I rose into the air, feeling the wind against my face. The feeling was pleasant and calming, but that didn't take away the horrible thoughts. With a last, fleeting look at what had been myself and my family, I headed over to Ricks in need of assistance, thanking the lord that he was an early morning person. A _really _early morning person. Still invisible, I peered into the window to find him sitting in his room eating breakfast consisting of a few slices of toast. I allowed myself to become visible again, and tapped on his window. I always did this, often late at night if I wanted to talk, so he knew it'd be me. I wasn't sure of what I exactly looked like right now, but I remember thinking that I must have looked frightful after seeing my friend's terrified face.

"No!" I exclaimed. "Rick, it's me! Something really bad's happened! You have to let me in!"

"I - I - I - Okay!" he said in a rather high-pitched, terrified voice. He opened the window up and I clambered through, standing up and heading directly for the mirror. I was shocked that my teeth had become pointed, along with my ears, as well as my goatee extending slightly longer and untamed than from what I left it as. And my face was the same white with a bluish tint as my hands were too. But other than that, I had the same basic facial structure and was recognizeable. And then there were my eyes... what was a deep shade of green was now a brilliant laser-coloured green, one that had a piercing stare. I turned back to Rick, and then looked in the direction of my house.

"Rick... Our house, it caught fire! My whole family's... dead..."

Rick had an utterly dumbfounded look on his face. Then it turned to one of shock and horror. "Writer, are you sure?!"

"Of course I'm sure!" I said. My face turned to that of sadness. "I saw them, sprawled out on the ground, Rick... They don't have a pulse or a heartbeat or _anything_... They're dead..."

"And you are too." he said quietly. "Writer, how did this happen...?"

"The house somehow caught fire." I replied, remembering the horror that I went through. "And I was up on the third story, trapped because the stairs had caved in... everyone was down below me, calling to me. I looked down and yelled to them I couldn't jump, it was too high up... and then the garage underneath my room exploded, probably from the gas bottles down there, and the _entire_ house collapsed on top of them... And... when I woke up I was like this..."

"Oh my God..." I heard Rick say under his breath. "C'mon, I want to see this for myself."

We set off together back towards my incinirated house. The smoke and early morning mist had started to go away now, but it was more-or-less, still there. Rick started to breathe fairly quickly as he saw the destruction, and began running through the small crowd that had gathered that morning, just in time to see four black bags being wheeled into an ambulance. It abruptly drove off. No one noticed me, and even if they looked me straight in the face I don't think that they would have. They were all to stunned from the house to notice or care. I moved through them closer to Rick, were he stood with an unreadable expression on his face. He stepped backwards, then looked at me again. "You really are a ghost." he said softly. "Oh my God, I thought you were just joshing me! I thought it was just some prank and so I went along with it! Writer, what are you going to do?!"

"I'm going to finish that incinirated book. I don't know why else I could be earthbound, so I might as well... I can't believe the thing that I love seperated me from everyone I care about..." I said sadly, crumbling to the ground. Rick patted me on the back, and obviously didn't know what to say to that. "I've... got things to do..." I said to him, slowly getting up, not looking nearly as defiant as I'd hoped that I would. "I'll see you later... I guess." I began to walk in the oppisite direction slowly. When I was out of eyeshot from him, I let myself become invisible. I didn't want to be seen like this around everyone, and I suddenly realized why there's no one who actually sees ghosts. They might hear or feel things, but never see, at the most maybe a shadow. Why would they want to be seen as a more demonic version of themselves?

The wind began to pick up, blowing my long purple jacket and scarf around. I wasn't sure where my feet were taking me, it's like they had a mind of their own. I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go, either. I'd never been so unsure about anything, so... confused. I kept on walking aimlessly for who knows how long, until I looked up from the pavement and realized the hospital was there. And, most likely, that's where Julie was too. I'd made a vow to myself to tell her, so I went in, still under the cloak of invisibility. Over in the corner, there was a computer that was used as a directory for the entire place. So I approached it and typed in her name. It came up with room 302. It was apparently on the third floor, so I went over to the elevater and waited for someone to come in. I was ready to risk life and limb to make sure that people _didn't _find out I was there, I couldn't stand being seen like this... One man in a big black business suit walked to the elevater, I moved out of the way so he wouldn't walk into me, as I was still unaware I could become intangible. He pressed the button and waited for the doors to open, then walked inside, all the while whistling to himself. I found it slightly displeasing with the horrible mood I was in, but squeezed into the lift anyway and shrank into a corner, hoping he wouldn't lose balance and find out that I was consealed there. He pressed the button with the six on it and the elevator and it went all the way to the top floor, where he got off.

And then I saw another man running up to me, and he definetely surprised me. He looked about my age, but his skin was just as pale as mine was, and he had that strange, unexplainable aura about him. His eyes were a glowing set of vibrant green, and he was also quite thin. The man in the business suit had walked off and failed to notice. The man ran into the elevator just as it closed up. When the door closed I took a chance and reappeared.

"Gah!" he yelled, flinching away from me. "Geez, don't do that to folks! You almost gave me a heart-attack and _that's_ technically impossible!"

"Oh, sorry!" I said quickly. "I guess I'm just not really used to this..."

"Should've guessed." he said to me. "Confused look and absolutely no clue, right? Well, anyway the Jenny and Jake Fenton are around. You might want to get out of here before they catch us both. Trust me, a lot of those inventions are _really _painful, and it's even worse when they malfunction. Just trust me, you don't want to get near them."

I knew the name Fenton. They were those ghost hunters who had claimed ghosts to be perfectly real. Of course, I didn't believe them, and I thought that all of their inventions malfunctioned. But now I wasn't going to chance it. "Where do I go to get away?"

"Our best bet's the Ghost Zone. It's an intimidating place, but it's better than becoming a lab rat. You just stay away from the nasties and you should be fine."

"We know you're in there, ghosts!" came a man's yell from outside. "And don't think you can get away, because we've got my son, Jack with the Fenton Grapler! And he's a bomb with it!"

The other ghost grabbed my hand and another strange feeling poured through me. Another one I just couldn't explain. We both became transparent, but still visible. He yanked at my arm and flew through the elevater wall, then outside of the hospital to my great surprise. We turned tangible again and he didn't even bother to stop and explain, he merely said as he pulled me along at an extremely fast speed, "There's

a portal that's going to open up in the middle of the street any second now!"

Right on cue, a green swirl appeared in the middle of a street, where two other ghosts quickly came out. He flew in with me and I was greeted by a swirling green dimension. It had no ground, and there were things floating in every direction. I found th whole place eerie but nonetheless, amazing.

"Welcome to the Ghost Zone!" he said dramatically after letting go of my hand. A thought suddenly went through my head, what if my family was here?

"Do you think my family's in here?!" I asked as I kept on looking around. "I haven't seen them since... it happened..."

"Probably not." he replied, patting me on the back in the same fashion as Rick had. "Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, no one really knows, but not everyone ends up like you or I. What I do know is, that once you're a ghost, you stay like that. Full stop, period, no changing it. That is, unless you for some reason destabilize, but you'd have to take one hell of a beating for that to happen. It only happens rarely, and no one knows what happens after that, or anything happens after that. It just has to go unanswered, I'm sorry."

"Damn it!" I yelled in fury. "Damn it all!"

"Look, I can't stay much longer. You best find yourself a place to live. And don't worry, even though a lot of folk look a bit strange, most won't bite if you don't provoke them. Just don't talk to anything that looks particularly unfriendly and you'll be fine." and with that, he flew off in a random direction. I realized that I wanted to go back, I didn't really want to stay here. But when I turned around, the portal was gone. I was stuck here without any help or company of any kind, and even though I liked that sometimes, that wasn't something I liked here. There was nothing left that I could do, I flew around in a random direction aimessly for a while, my thoughts never leaving my mother and father, and my sister. Why did I have to get split up from them? It was cruel, I shouldn't be forced to do this.

I lost count of how long it had been. It could have been a few minutes or a few hours in here, there was no way of telling time. No sun, no watch... No clocks. And as I wandered aimlessly, avoiding pretty much anything that moved, my eye caught an old, abandoned library. It... grabbed my interest. I became invisible and entered inside, looking around to see if there was anyone there. When I'd confirmed that there was nothing inside, I became visible again and looked around. It was a circular room full of books everywhere, and the ceiling extended so high that I couldn't even see it from the bottom. In the middle of the room, there was a circular keyboard with a note plastered onto it. I looked at, then ripped it off so I could read it.

_This is the Quantum Keyboard. It is a very, very_

_special keyboard that can make anything you type _

_into it become reality, if one wants to. However, _

_there is a slight catch to it - no one can work it._

_After the reign of Pariah Dark, something _

_happened to it, and no one could work it anymore._

_It is thought that one day, someone will come _

_along. They will have great skill at writing, and_

_would only use such a machine as this sparingly._

_However, many fitting the description have tried,_

_and yet none have prevailed. If you would like,_

_you may try to use this keyboard. However, do _

_not expect it to work, as it will most probably_

_not._

_The one who can work it is it's true owner, and _

_only it's true owner will be able to work it. And _

_if you are that one, the true owner, let me say_

_this: use it sparingly, even though I know you_

_will. Use it to bring a greater good to the world,_

_to teach people. Do not use it for malicious _

_purposes; the consequences could be _

_chatastrophic. The few things this keyboard_

_cannot do is bring people back, dead or_

_destabilized, or give the user any actual _

_knowledge that isn't their own. If the keyboard _

_is ever destroyed, it will, eventually, reappear _

_here again. No one knows why, either._

_ Do not mess with this, it's a dangerous _

_artefact in the wrong hands. You have been _

_warned. _

I shrugged, thinking it was worth a shot. So I thought for a moment, then approached the keyboard and typed into it.

_A portal to home opened up beside me, to my great shock._

The moment I'd punched it in, a portal did indeed open right beside me to my great shock, then closed as quick as it had come. _I _could work the keyboard. _I _was the one who could work the keyboard. I was amazed, amazement that even shon through the dark cloud that was the loss of my family. But how long ago was Pariah Dark? What was a Pariah Dark? This thing could have been centuries old, and no one else was able to work it at all. It was circular, on one half it said 'Fictional', and the other half said 'Fictional Reality'. I figured that Fictional must mean that nothing happens, you just simply write, and Fictional Reality ment you turned the fiction into a reality, that must have been it.

Suddenly I heard the door smash down. I big, robotic figure appeared before me. He had an evil grin and a look of triumph on his face. "I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter! And a Ghost Writer! I never thought I'd ever end up using that pun on someone. You are a minor prize, but prize is still a prize!" After I heard that immensely long introduction, (remembering that I haven't seen the likes of Technus yet) I immediately began typing into the Fictional Reality section of the keyboard.

_And after the big, robotic ghost had stopped his speech, some of the machinery on him began malfunctioning, sending him spiraling out of the library and all the way back to... wherever he lives._

There was a spark that came from some of the equipment. Suddenly, something went really wrong; one of the wings on the back exploded, causing the fuel tanks to become wildly out of control, sending Skulker spiraling out of the library. The keyboard really did work.

--

And to this day, I use the keyboard. I don't know why I was the one who can work it, but I am, and so I use it. I got over my own death rather quickly, it's my family's that stuck. I'm still not over it, although most of the time it lurks in the back of my mind most of the time where it fails to come out in my emotions and actions. I don't think I'll ever move on from it completely, but there's not much I can do. I never did end up going back, even though I wanted to see my friends again. I found that it held the horrible memory of the house on fire, and then collapsing. It was too painful. It's too late now to find them. They've all probably moved and would be at least in their sixties. Even when I put aside all that, I've felt somewhat empty inside...

And I have no idea on what it is.

**--**

**Author's Note**

That's more words than I've ever written before! (faints)

This took two solid days to write, and to tell you the truth, I'm a little anxious to see what people think. Just let me say here and now, that you're going to flame just because you didn't like it, then just be warned that _I do _burn back. To be honest, I'm not sure what people think, so I'm a little nervous. But, like with everything else, I'm posting it anyway. :)

Peace,

MoonlightUmbreon


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